Saturday, May 8, 1999 Published at 07:36 GMT 08:36 UKChina condemns strikeText of Beijing statement condemning the strike on China's embassy in Belgrade.

US-led Nato dropped three missiles from different angles on the embassy of the People's Republic of China in Yugoslavia at midnight Friday.

The building of the embassy was seriously damaged. Up till now, two had been confirmed dead while more than 20 were injured with two others missing.

US-led Nato has been wantonly bombing Yugoslavia for more than 40 days, killing and wounding large numbers of innocent civilians and now it even launched air strikes against the Chinese embassy.

The action is a gross violation of Chinese sovereignty and a random violation of the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic Relations and the norms of international relations. This is rare in diplomatic history.

The Chinese Government and people express their utmost indignation and severe condemnation of the barbarian act and lodge the strongest protest.

US-led Nato should bear all responsibilities arising therefrom. The Chinese Government reserves the right to take further action on the matter.

Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English, Saturday 8 May.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.